This is a review of an article I read almost 24 moons ago, it was written by Leah Stella Stephens, whose nickname here on Steemit is @stellabelle. The title of the article is “Explain DPOS like I am Five by”. It was published on September 28th, 2017 in the online news webpage Hackernoon. I reread this article recently and here are my thoughts.
Article summary:
Why Was Delegated Proof of Stake Invented?
Daniel Larimer is a blockchain engineer. He has strong opinions about Bitcoin. He feels mining Bitcoin uses to much energy. He also feels that Bitcoin mining has become centralized and that giant mining pools control the Bitcoin network. Lastly, he feels the Bitcoin network is to slow. He decided to build a different system that used less energy than Bitcoin, which was resistant to centralization and which was faster. He called this new system Delegated Proof of Stake, or DPOS. In DPOS the owners of the cryptocurrency have votes, the strength of their votes is in proportion to their stake or amount of the cryptocurrency they possess. These people choose other people to run the computers, which run the cryptocurrency network. These computers are called nodes. These people running the computers, which run the cryptocurrency network, are called witnesses. The top 100 witnesses by votes get paid. The top 20 witnesses by votes get a salary.
I like to think of Delegated Proof of Stake as technological democracy.
Source
This system works because it is able to flush out bad actors and at the same time recognize new valuable members. The system is dependent upon active voters in the community, so educating new members about how the system works is essential to the well-being of the system. Source
My conclusions and interpretations:
In my opinion, the design of DPOS means that in the beginning of the Steem network the majority of Steem will belong to the earliest buyers and because of this narrow distribution of the cryptocurrency the system will be a centralized network. But as new people come into the network and buy Steem, the Steem will be more widely distributed and the network will become less centralized overtime, which is the opposite of Bitcoin. I believe this design creates initial centralization in exchange for eventual decentralization. If the people of the community want to have a technological democracy, they need to buy Steem, put their assets at risk and own their community. Democracy is not free, it requires putting yourself at risk and it requires participation in the process by which the leaders are chosen and lastly it requires your voice. You must speak up and make your opinion known. If you are not willing to do these things, you must ask yourself, if you are unwilling to pay for democracy and work to preserve it, do you deserve it?
✍️ Written by Shortsegments.
If you have the time and desire for a more knowledge on this topic, please review the links below.
- Explain DPOS like I am Five by @stellabelle in September 28th, 2017.
Source
Current cryptocurrency projects that use Delegated Proof of Stake:
BitShares: https://bitshares.org/
Steem: https://steem.io/
EOS: https://eos.io/
Lisk: https://lisk.io/
Ark: https://ark.io/
Further reading and sources:
Dan Larimer invented DPOS in 2014: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=558316.0
DPOS vs. POW by Dan Larimer: http://bytemaster.github.io/bitshares/2015/01/04/Delegated-Proof-of-Stake-vs-Proof-of-Work/
DPOS updated white paper by Dan Larimer: https://steemit.com/dpos/@dantheman/dpos-consensus-algorithm-this-missing-white-paper
BitShares: http://docs.bitshares.org/bitshares/dpos.html
The Merkle: https://themerkle.com/what-is-delegated-proof-of-stake/
Facts about Daniel Larimer, the inventor of Delegated Proof of Stake: https://steemit.com/eosio/@xeroc/historical-facts-about-daniel-larimer-and-his-contributions-to-the-blockchain-industry
Overview of different consensus algorithms: https://blog.wavesplatform.com/review-of-blockchain-consensus-mechanisms-f575afae38f2
Stay thirsty for knowledge my friends!
✍️ written by Shortsegments
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